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Monthly Archives: April 2014
3 essential sales skills
Regularly I find myself on the receiving end of a pitch of some sort, as do all in business. We all buy and sell on a daily basis, and whilst there are easily recognisable and specialised functions that buy and … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Customers, Sales, Small business
Tagged communication, customer, negotiation, Sales, SME
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Risk and A/B testing
As a marketer, I am fairly left brain oriented, some may say flakey and opinionated, and I have done well with that for many years. Here is the paradox. You can now test just about everything if you try hard … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Social Media
Tagged category management, communication, Entrepreneur, Governance, marketing analytics, supply chain
1 Comment
Reading the consumers mind.
Businesses spend many millions trying to understand the way consumers consider the choices confronting them in a supermarket. With up to 30,000 items on shelf, and some categories having hundreds of choices, it is a key consideration. A mix of … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Category, Customers, Marketing, retail
Tagged analytics, Branding, category management, competitive strategy, Marketing, marketing analytics, retailer, Sales, Social Media
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Outside-in innovation
My early days of marketing were as a minor part of the team that created Meadow Lea, the brand that completely changed then dominated the margarine markets for the following 25 years. I was really just a young gopher, but … Continue reading
10 X 8 Framework for a content StrategyAudit
These days with the ubiquity of mobile and social, almost everyone is a media channel. Recognising this simple fact changes the formula for media success. In the old days, the formula used so successfully by mass marketers was: Money X … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Customers, Marketing, Sales, Small business, Social Media
Tagged Advertising, Branding, communication, competitive strategy, customer, Marketing, performance assessment, Sales, SME, Social Media, Strategy
1 Comment
8 ways to build a hypothesis testing mind set.
The most successful people I have seen over 40 years of business share one crucial characteristic. Curiosity. The successful are insatiably curious, it spans all aspects of their lives, not just the parts that are spent working at what pays … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Collaboration, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing
Tagged Change, change management, collaboration, Governance, Innovation, Leadership, performance assessment, SME, Strategy
1 Comment
How to build a personal brand
Personal branding seems to be a popular topic around the pub, even the brickie who lives a few streets away, and is not known for his new age sensitivities, has got a hold of it. It is not new, Julius … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Leadership
Tagged Branding, communication, managing yourself, performance assessment
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Renting your sales.
Walking into chain retailers these days you are inevitably confronted by displays of product, usually at a discount. Most people seem to think that it is the retailer doing the promotion as a means to attract added sales, which … Continue reading
Category management steroids
Originally posted on StrategyAudit:
Data mining as it is evolving in retail is a fascinating exercise in identifying behavior characteristics that apply to very small percentages of the shopper population, and doing something with them. Progressively retailers are getting better…
Posted in Uncategorized
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Organised serendipity
At first sight, “Organised” and “Serendipity” are at opposite ends of the scale, almost mutually exclusive. Serendipity occurs by chance, when the stars align, the unexpected happens and not by any organised process, or so we are led to believe. … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Collaboration, Innovation, Small business
Tagged Change, change management, Innovation, Leadership, Management, Marketing, performance assessment, Strategy
1 Comment
Corporate euthanasia
Holden, SPC, Alcoa, Caltex oil, and all the other industrial enterprises that are currently going out of business or leaving the country are doing so because they failed to keep up with the evolution of technology and management practice. Whilst … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
3 core questions of strategy.
Often I find myself engaged in conversations with those running small businesses who believe they have discovered the next big thing, the idea that will change the world, or at least their business. It can be as simple as a … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
Tagged competitive strategy, customer, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, SME, Strategy
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The corruption sideshow
The joint is in a mess. Every time you look at the news, there is another “revelation” of dodgy morality, insider dealings, political duck-shoving and just plain corruption. Greed has become the magnet in our moral compass, and to compete, … Continue reading
Posted in Personal Rant, Small business
Tagged Governance, Leadership, Personal Rant, Politics, SME
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7 steps to SME digital effectiveness.
A friend of mine has a very successful small business selling high value services to a small group of clients from diverse backgrounds. He does not want to be the next IPO, or employ hundreds, or even tens of people, … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Marketing, Social Media
Tagged Advertising, Branding, Change, change management, communication, competitive strategy, customer, Marketing, marketing analytics, Sales, SME, Social Media
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The “P-word” simile
Talking with a couple of mates over a beer recently, one of whom has a successful boutique recruitment agency, we found ourselves reflecting on the changes in word usage that had occurred over the last 20 years, and how we … Continue reading
Customer expectations paradox.
The great paradox in selling is that to sell successfully, we often raise the expectations of those to whom we are selling, but to have satisfied customers, we need to under promise and over-deliver. Complicating that dilemma of the … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Communication, Customers, Marketing
Tagged Advertising, Branding, communication, customer, Marketing, Sales
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